Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün

Gönlümün tahtında 'ışkuñ şâh-ı devrânum gibi
Cân u dil şehrinde hükm itdi Süleymânum gibi
Gözüme olup hayâl-i kaddüñ ey simin-beden
Bâğ-ı dilde ṣalınur serv-i hırâmânum gibi
Her gice zülfün hevâsında hayâli haddünüñ
Dil harâbın rüşen eyler mâh-ı tâbânum gibi
Ayağına baş koyup dem dem ṣurâhi ey ṣanem
Çeşmesinden çeşmimüm her dem akar kanum gibi
'Aklını yağmaya virüp bu Harîmînüñ bu dem
Anı bî-hûş iden ol zülf-i perîşânum gibi

In English

1. Your love sat on the throne of my heart like the king of the age; it ruled in the city of soul and heart like my Solomon.

2. O silver-bodied one, the image of your stature appears to my eye and sways in the garden of the heart like my swaying cypress.

3. Every night, in the passion for your locks, the image of your cheek lights up the ruin of the heart like my shining moon.

4. O beauty, the flask lays its head at your feet every moment; from its spout flows wine like the blood that flows every moment from my eye.

5. What has given this Harîmî's mind over to plunder now and robbed him of his senses is that dishevelled lock of mine.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a ghazal of five couplets. The metre is the remel pattern Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilâtün Fâ'ilün. The redif (refrain word) is "-um gibi" (like my ...), and the rhyme is the "-ân, -an" of "devrân, Süleymân, hırâmân, tâbân, kan, perîşân". The prayer in the heading is "Enârallâhü s̱erâhû". Kılıç quotes the fourth and fifth couplets as examples of word repetition. Ghazal 46, which follows immediately, is written in the same metre, rhyme and redif, and many of its lines are very close to this one. The letters ṣ (sad) and s̱ (se), which came out as ş in the digital text, have been restored according to the original spelling of the words. The poet's life, works and the state of the Dîvânçe are discussed in Şehzade Korkut (Harîmî): Literary Persona, Works and Poems.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal sets love on a throne as a ruler. In the first couplet love is the king of the age on the throne of the heart and rules like Solomon in the city of soul and heart; Solomon is the symbol of mighty kingship in divan poetry. The construction "-um gibi" in the redif compares each of the beloved's beauties with something belonging to the lover himself: my cypress, my moon, my blood, my lock. In the second couplet the image of the stature is a cypress swaying in the garden of the heart. In the third the image of the cheek lights up the ruin of the heart like a moon shining in the dark of night; there is a contrast between the night of the locks and the moon of the cheek. In the fourth couplet the flask, since it bends to the cup to pour wine, is likened to one who lays his head at someone's feet, and the flowing wine resembles the bloody tears flowing from the lover's eye. The repetitions "dem dem, her dem" (every moment) and "çeşme, çeşm" (spout, eye) are marked in this couplet; the harmony Kılıç emphasizes is built with them.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Harîmî (Şehzade Korkut), Dîvânçe, Millet Library, Ali Emîrî, Manzum Eserler nr. 104.

Academic studies

  • Filiz Kılıç, "Osmanlı Hanedanında Bir Şair: Şehzade Korkut", Bilig (Ahmet Yesevi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi), 2, Summer 1996, pp. 203–219 (Dîvânçe text pp. 209–218; ghazal 45, p. 217). teis.yesevi.edu.tr

Books